The MVZ brown bag lunch is a must for MVZ students and personnel. It is a graduate level seminar and it is mostly focused on current or recent vertebrate research. In addition to being a seminar, it is a chance for the museum to get together on a weekly basis. Numerous alum have said that it was their favorite activity while working in the MVZ.

I have been asked by a few MVZers if I know the origins of the lunch but I’ve had to rely on the myths and folklore of others (all very reputable sources!). At long last, we have found an answer. Filed with historic emergency procedures, is a memo from then museum director, Dr. Alden Miller, dated January 29, 1943. Miller circulated the memo to all museum staff including Susan Chattin, the museum secretary, and Mary Tappe, the museum stenographer. It is brief but it is unquestionably the origin of this MVZ tradition.